


cat cradle

by dearmoonlight



Series: kitten paws [2]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, I swear, I'M BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE CATS, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, M/M, Mao is Still Not Jealous, izuleo if you squint, you don't have to read the first part to understand this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22243168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearmoonlight/pseuds/dearmoonlight
Summary: So they kept the cats, even if it was between grunts and complains. And then Arashi said that she would name hers “Izunyan”. And Sena got offended by it and took revenge by calling his “Nyaru.” And it quickly transformed into a circle of shaming each other, or at least making an effort for it.And so Mao was doomed to a life of forced parenthood with an ungrateful child that has an ugly name.
Relationships: Isara Mao/Sakuma Ritsu
Series: kitten paws [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601098
Kudos: 95





	cat cradle

Anyone who have known Hajime for more than five seconds now that he’s almost literally an angel. He’s a treasure, a kind soul in a universe of wicked beings, the kind of boy who helps grannies in the street and bakes cookies for his classmates when he has free time. Rumor has it that he cured a boy’s depression only by squeezing his hands tightly.

The boy is a freaking sweetheart, that’s what we’re getting at. 

So when he interrupts Mao’s rant about his boyfriend’s cat to whisper “She’s horrible.”, is more than a surprise. Mao stops mid track, astounded, and looks at him with a puzzled expression. Hajime could as well have said that Tsukinyaga is a furry form of Satan himself.

“I.. I don’t mean that I don’t like her!” Hajime adds, a blush covering his whole face. “Ritsu-senpai brought her to one of our reunions and she just...pushed all the cups off the table.” Hajime shakes his head with a sigh. “The president said that he would buy us new ones to replace them, but…”

“Of course he said it!” Himemiya intercedes with that high, penetrating tone he uses when talking about the president. “Eichi-sama is suuuuper considerate, and you better not forget!” he points a finger at Hajime and nods to himself, like he just got a job done. Mao tries to hide his smile, but is to no avail. “Anyway, it has to be a family thing. That idiot’s stupid cat is also hideous.”

“Who are you talking about?” Hajime ask, shyly, just as Mao says:

“So Tsukasa’s is difficult too?”

There’s a pause. Hajime seems a little mortified by the insult at his classmate, but Tori is already nodding with vigor. He huffs, crossing his arms in a petulant gesture. 

“That thing tried to scratch King! I told Tsukasa to sacrifice him immediately, he’s a hazard to society.”

“How’s the cat called?” Mao asks as he pats Hajime’s shoulder, if just to cheer him up. He seems like he’s starting to regret his own comment about Tsukinyaga.

“Nyatsu.”

Silence falls upon them. Mao busies himself reflecting about all the mistakes he has made in his life to end up dating Ritsu, and from there his mind jumps to how the hell have Knights build this reputation of gallant, elegant princes.

You see, the thing with Knights is that they fulfill a very special role in being a powerful unit with an enormous fanbase of screaming teenagers _and_ a group of idiots that doesn’t have a single collective braincell and are prone to give a feeling of second hand embarrassment.

He’s not going to tell Ritsu any of that, however.

“It’s...original.” Hajime says, and he even looks like he believes it.

You see? A freaking treasure of a boy.

* * *

Apparently, the thing went like this:

They found the kittens. Leo decided that they would keep one each, because there were five of them and it had to be a sign! And Anzu could adopt the mother, so everything seemed to be sorted out! And not a single person in that group can actually oppose to Leo’s wishes when his eyes are glittering and his intentions are _that_ pure, so. 

So they kept the cats, even if it was between grunts and complains. And then Arashi said that she would name hers “Izunyan”. And Sena got offended by it and took revenge by calling his “Nyaru.” And it quickly transformed into a circle of shaming each other, or at least making an effort for it.

And so Mao was doomed to a life of forced parenthood with an ungrateful child that has an ugly name.

When Ritsu tells him the story, he seems delighted. He’s stroking Tsukinyaga’s fur softly, with a peaceful expression painted into his face, and Mao melts a little inside.

“Tsukkipi’s is called Tsucatsa.” he says, and Mao swears to god that it almost seems as if Ritsu thinks of this as something _endearing._ “Suu-chan said that it’s an undeniable proof that he can remember his name now.”

Mao would answer, but he’s busy thinking about Tsu _cat_ sa. He wonders if you can sue someone for choosing an awful name to their pet.

“You know what?” he sighs. “I think that Tsukinyaga got the best name.”

Ritsu smiles softly, and he leans in to kiss Mao’s cheek. The kitten lets out an affronted huff, offended by the new closeness. 

Mao wonders if she will ever grow attached to him. At least a little.

* * *

This is what he knows about the rest:

The mother is living with Anzu. She’s missing a few teeth, so eating is kind of hard for her. Anzu only gives her wet food, and her brother is in charge of changing her litter box. She’s an old, lazy thing that almost never meows but purrs a lot. Anzu says she’s a handful, but she looks affronted when Subaru says that Daikichi is cuter.

Himemiya says that Nyatsu is a good for nothing kitty that spends most of her days either sleeping or asking for Tsukasa’s attention. Apparently, she curls into his lap when he’s doing homework, and he’s having trouble keeping his pants clean of fur. 

Arashi talks in class about how cute Izunyan is. He’s apparently noisy, but never really get into fights with anyone - and he loves to cuddle, either with her or Nyanko. A lovely cat, Arashi says, even if he gets lonely too quickly and gets into bed with her most nights.

The lockscreen of Izumi’s phone is now a photo of Nyaru poking Leo’s nose with her own.

Tsucatsa seems to be a very nice kitty with a laid-back personality, even if Koga affirms that Leo gives him dog treats sometimes and the absolute weirdo of a cat _eats them_. Leo wants to carry him everywhere, and Izumi’s having trouble convincing him to leave the kittens at home.

Is obvious that Ritsu got the short end of the stick when they were distributing the cats.

Tsukinyaga is not even a bad kitty. Like, overall one could say that she’s well-mannered and nice, criminal tendencies aside. She’s just very selective to who is she warm to, and most of the world’s population don’t fall into that category.

As long as Mao knows, Tsukinyaga just purrs and licks at: Knights, Anzu (because who could be mean to Anzu? That one should be obvious) and, surprisingly, Madara Mikejima.

( _What a traitor, right? Madara has to be bathing himself in tuna._ )

Mao doesn’t know if it’s a name thing, but Tsukinyaga takes after Leo in her opinion about Madara. She leaves dead birds at his feet, rubs her cheek against his face, licks his hair at every chance she gets, kneads her paws against his lap with purrs of satisfaction when Madara finally pets her and meows at him when he doesn’t. 

Ritsu doesn’t get jealous, because he takes advantage of this to drop himself all over Mao. He doesn’t meow to get his attention, but is easy to see the parallelism between him and his cat.

Mao wonders if everyone feels with Ritsu just as he does with Tsukinyaga: like a cute little thing with a friendly appearance that should be simple to befriend despises you too much to be normal, and yet you are wrapped around their little finger.

The only good thing that comes with the fact that Tsukinyaga seems to be in love with Madara is that at least Mao knows who will take care of her if Ritsu and him want to take a break at the beach at some point.

The rest of the kittens are, in fact, better. Mao discovers this the day they have a little reunion at the Sakuma house, and - since apparently Ritsu doesn’t know the meaning of the word “communication” - Mao wakes up to the sound of the door bell and his boyfriend muttering something like “Oh, it must be the cats.”

“I’m sure that cats don’t know the social implications of ringing, Ritchan.” Mao mutters, trying to recolocate himself against Ritsu. They've been up until late the night before, and for once in his life he would like to get his well-deserved hours of _rest_.

“No, but Secchan do- go and open the door, Maakun.”

Ritsu talks against his neck, the words coming up in a breath that makes Mao shiver. His mind needs a good three seconds to understand the meaning of what he just have been told, and then he opens his eyes.

“They are _your friends_.”

“Maakun.” Ritsu repeats, pleading, and Mao has never been good at denying him.

And that’s how he ends up before Knights, sans the one that’s still in bed, with a shirt that belongs to Ritsu, hair messy and the sleep still clinging to his whole expression. 

“You look horrible.” says Sena, always the charmer. Mao forms an apologetic smile.

“Well, Izumi-chan, you can’t say that to his face!” Arashi is probably trying to be on Mao’s side here, but her comment makes him sigh with resignation. You can never win when it comes to Knights.

“Ritsu is still sleeping. You can put your things in the living room, I think?”

The only thing they have is a cat carrier each. A feeling of dread weights down in Mao’s stomach. Ritsu probably didn’t tell him about the reunion just so he would sleep with him instead of going home to avoid this, the jerk.

So Mao guides them to the living room and watch in horror as they let the cats out of the bags. Almost literally. He tries to make a tactical retreat, because if he has trouble dealing with Tsukinyaga he can’t even imagine how it would be with her four siblings added to the mix. He trips in the way, however, and barely saves himself from falling face first on the stairs. Mao looks down to the little furball by his feet, just to find a pair of wide blue eyes staring back at him.

The little menace in question wears a big, pink bow that sticks out behind his ears. He lets out an amiable meow, his tail wagging in expectation.

“Izunyan!” Arashi scolds, coming after the cat to scoop him up. “Sorry, he's a handful. Nyanko is way more civilized.” she looks at her cat then, frowning sightly. “Yes, yes, I said that, you’re a terrible kitty, you can’t go asking for a treat like that-”

She goes back to the sofa, Izunyan curled up in her arms. Tsukinyaga seems to be too busy playing with a ball of wool that Leo has brought to even notice what her sister has done.

Relief floods through his body. It would be no good if she took the idea and tried to kill Mao or Rei by making them trip down the stairs.

(It might sound like an exaggeration, but it’s not. Oh god, it’s really not. Rei said once that he’s slightly allergic to her fur, and from that moment on she has the habit of curling up in his clean laundry. Ritsu says that it’s adorable how she tries to get his attention.)

Mao looks at the living room. Arashi is now seated in the floor, Izunyan still in her lap. Another cat (Mao thinks that it’s Leo’s, so Tsucatsa, but he might be wrong) is rubbing his whole head on the hand that she’s offering to him. A third is trying to get himself under the carpet.

Mao can't see the one that’s left, but he doesn’t care. He announces that he’s going to wake up Ritsu and (finally!) makes his way to his boyfriend’s bedroom. There’s a cocoon made of blankets in the bed, and a mop of black hair at the top is the only thing to be seen of the boy that's inside. Mao sighs.

“Your friends are here. With their kittens.”

“Good for them.” says the lump of blankets. A hand emerges, gesturing blindly in Mao’s direction. “Come back to bed?”

“Ritchan.” Mao chides. He makes the mistake of coming closer, and Ritsu’s hand grips his forearm. He pulls. Hard.

Ritsu might seem like a weakling, with the clear skin and fragile constitution, but he’s strong enough to make Mao fall into the bed with a surprised gasp. An arm slides around his waist, and Mao lets out a sigh.

“Ritchan, you have guests.”

“They’re like family, they’ll manage.” the blankets are still between them, but that doesn’t stop ritsu from scooping closer with a pleased sound that comes from the back of his throat. Almost like a purr.

“You’re making this difficult on purpose.” 

“Am I _that_ irresistible, Maakun?” 

Mao huffs, but he turns in the circle of his arms to look at the face poking out between the blankets. Ritsu’s eyes have an amused glint to them, a smirk tugging at the end of his lips, and Mao knows the battle is lost.

“We have to go ba-” his words come to a stop when he feels something tiny jump upon them, a soft meow filling his ears. For a terrible second Mao thinks Tsukinyaga is back, but then Ritsu is untangling himself from his homemade cocoon and raising his hand to stroke their visitor’s fur.

“Good morning, Nyatsu.”

“It’s almost noon.” Mao grumbles, and Ritsu lets out a low chuckle.

Nyatsu moves then, and Mao feels himself tense at the motion, expecting the cat to hiss at him. She doesn’t, however, and Mao can feel her sandpaper tongue trace along the curve of his wrist. Then his cheek. Ritsu laughs in a small voice again.

“She seems to like you” he whispers, just as Nyatsu curls up against his neck. It’s uncomfortable as hell, and her tail hits against his nose every time she twitches it. Nyatsu purrs in delight when he strokes her fur lightly, almost doubtful.. Mao can feel it against his skin.

He can’t help the smile that blooms in his face.

“Yeah.” he says. “I guess she does.” there’s a peaceful pause, and Mao’s pretty sure that Ritsu has fallen asleep again. Still, he asks. “Can we exchange her for Tsukinyaga?”

Ritsu clicks his tongue.

“Maakun, please, don’t make me ask you to leave my bed.”

**Author's Note:**

> this work was almost called "mao's furry little problem".
> 
> Also, my bunny likes dog treats! She got sick once because she kept eating them every time I turned my back to her. 
> 
> I still feel like english makes my writing...way worse than it is. Like, too simple. But !! I got so a warm response to the first fic...Like, not just the kudos (and some comments, thank you again!) but also !! some twitter mutuals talked about it? without knowing that I was the author? And it made my whole week! (So, yeah... thank @/mxreshire in twitter. Tsukinyaga liking Madara was totally her idea!) And a dear friend made a fanart for it! So! Here it is!
> 
> (Also, @ mikeirix is to blame for like, half of the kittens' names. Thank you Nia for always going along with my random ideas.)
> 
> Anyway, follow me at @nozomumelody if you feel like it and talk ritsumao to me.


End file.
